Many people often experience periodic back pain. The reasons for their appearance are very diverse: trauma, neurological diseases against the background of damage to the nervous system. One of the most complex manifestations of diseases associated with back pain is Brown-Secar syndrome.
It is a whole complex of both sensitive and motor disorders caused by damage to the spinal cord across. The list of conditions and diseases in which this syndrome occurs is quite large. The main and most common cause of its occurrence is a back injury, which can be obtained as a result of a
knife wound, or as a result of a wound with a blunt object. There are frequent cases when Brown-Sekar's syndrome appears as a result of a car accident, which entailed a facet fracture along with displacement.
Much less often, but nevertheless, there have been cases of the occurrence of this syndrome due to an extramedullary tumor, disc herniation, epidural hematoma, spinal infarction, or a vertebral artery dissection. But still, the main reason is damage to the spinal cord as a result of a mechanical injury.
Several manifestations are described, the cause of which is the aforementioned syndrome. So, its classic version is the following. On the side of the location of the lesion, either paresis or paralysis of both legs occurs. There is a deep violation of sensitivity (weight, pressure), as well as the absence thereof in the form of numbness in the zone of innervation of segments that were damaged as a result of trauma. On the side that is opposite to the lesion, there is a lack of surface sensitivity (temperature, pain)
Brown-Secard syndrome in the reverse version has the following features. Symptoms in this case are different. On the side that is the site of the focus, a violation of surface sensitivity may be noted, and on the other - paralysis and paresis. The symptom of Brown-Secara is present only on the side of the injury (motor impairment, sensitivity disorders).
The so-called partial version of the syndrome differs from the ones mentioned above in that the symptoms practically do not appear or are noted only zonally.
Such a variety of possible manifestations is explained, first of all, by the localization and nature (injuries, concussions, brain tumors, purulent epiduritis, impaired general spinal circulation) of the lesion.
An integral feature of a disease such as Brown-Secar syndrome is that, against the background of the above changes, sensitivity in the muscles and joints is preserved. This fact is easily explained by the fact that the cords located behind the spinal cord remain unharmed due to the fact that their blood is supplied through the spinal artery.
The above symptoms of Brown-Secar syndrome are clinically confirmed and have been repeatedly observed in medical practice.